“Bowie was down to earth, personable and articulate…”

George Murray played bass through one of Bowie’s hottest streaks, from 1976’s Station To Station to 1980’s Scary Monsters , with the extraordinary Berlin Trilogy of Low, “Heroes” and Lodger in between. Then, suddenly, he left the singer’s orbit and, it seemed, music itself. For the next three decades-plus he was an enigma to Bowie watchers. In reality, he was working in Los Angeles in education.

Now, Murray’s picked up his bass again to revisit the sounds and atmospheres of that remarkable period. Alongside long term Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar, he’s part of the D.A.M Trio Back To Berlin: Low-Heroes-Lodger tour. Billed as ‘Honouring David Bowie & Dennis Davis,’ European dates reprising those lauded long-players begin in Germany on November 7, and hit Britain on November 23 at the Sheffield Octagon. They play London’s Barbican on November 28.

“I first met David in September of 1975 in a rehearsal studio in Los Angeles,” Murray tells MOJO. “Carlos was there, (drummer) Dennis Davis was there, I think Earl Slick might have been there too. David came in a few minutes after I had arrived and extended his hand. He seemed to be down to earth, personable and articulate. The only thing I knew of him was Space Oddity and Fame, and the billboard that RCA Records had put up of Diamond Dogs, which was shocking!”

The first song they worked on was Golden Years. “It was one of the few songs that he actually gave a little background to,” Murray says. “He said, you know, people think that their golden years come later on in life, he said, but what they don't realise is that the golden years are being created in this very moment, as we go on, day by day. That went over my head a little bit, but I grabbed onto it… I’ve thought about that over the years, being in the moment and looking at how the moment is creating the future, and how that aligns with certain Buddhist principles that I now follow.”

Assisting in evoking these golden years are supercharged, adaptable vocalist Michael Cunio, Bowie’s Live Aid and Tin Machine guitarist Kevin Armstrong, Chaka Khan drummer Tal Bergman, George Clinton keyboardist Axel Tosca, and Scissor Sisters backing vocalist Lea Lorien. Noted Bowie video curator Nacho will handle the visual element. Murray, who’s in Berlin rehearsing with the ‘B2B’ band before the tour kicks off, recalls an unfortunate end to his association with Bowie but has elected to accentuate the huge positives of their association.

“I wasn't fired,” he says. “David just didn't call me back. We parted ways amicably. And the phone call I got in 1975 from Dennis Davis (to join), I knew that I was replacing somebody and I also knew that one day, somebody would replace me. Looking back on the way my life has evolved, some parts of it were very painful, but I was able to work my way through them. I'm fine with the way that things worked out.”

The D.A.M Trio's Back To Berlin Tour arrives in the UK this month. Dates below:

Main picture: George Murray on stage with Bowie, Madison Square Gardens, March 26, 1976 (Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Hulton Archive/Getty)

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